Modern day oracle dispenses no-nonsense advice
But where are the Christian oracles in popular culture?
By Gerry Bowler • Special to ChristianWeek
When the ancient Greeks were about to embark on some important venture–to go on a long voyage, make war or peace, lay a curse, or establish a new colony–they consulted an oracle. The most prestigious oracle of the Greek world was that of Apollo at Delphi where the "pythia," a priestess in an altered state of consciousness, would reply to specific questions from those who had travelled up Mount Parnassus to seek the god’s advice. Her garbled utterances would be interpreted by a priest and the petitioner would go away with a short, ambiguous, but ultimately accurate, assessment of the best course to take.
We sophisticated urbanites of late 20th-century North America have outgrown a reliance on the babblings of a snake-woman, but we retain a need for assurance and answers and so we have created a new set of oracles. We heed the advice of endless self-help gurus with fixed smiles whose wisdom is conveyed through seminars, tapes and television infomercials.
Those of us with an over-developed sense of credulity and the financial resources to afford charges of $6 a minute employ telephone psychics to guide our choices in life and love. Others with a need for face-to-face consultation can hire the services of a legion of palmists, astrologers, aura-readers, iridologists, and those who employ tea leaves, tarot cards, dreams, rune-sticks, the I-Ching or bumps on the skull to determine our futures. Our need for supernatural advice has become the despair of those who thought rationality was on the rise and created a multi-million dollar industry for fortune-tellers.
However, the most popular oracle of today isn’t Madame Zora or the Psychic Friends Network but a middle-aged American psychologist named Laura Schlessinger. Dr. Laura dispenses straight (even, occasionally, harsh) counsel to those who phone in with personal problems–take responsibility for your own actions; divorce is no solution; self-esteem is earned, not automatic; quit whining and do something. She blames the feel-good pop psychology of the last decade for leading many into lives of emptiness and for teaching people to equate fun with happiness.
Refreshing attitude
In an era when being a victim has become everyone’s sacred right and a ticket to sympathy or compensation, Dr. Laura’s attitude is a refreshing one and has made her a media star. She has attracted a regular audience of over 10 million to her radio advice program and her books How Could You Do That?! and Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives have become international best sellers. Followers of her "moral health" approach snap up her slogans on T-shirts, mugs and key chains.
Dr. Laura (herself a conservative Jew) takes religion seriously and refers listeners to the Bible for lessons in life. It is not surprising then that evangelical Christians are among her biggest fans. It is hard not to agree with her emphasis on family, morality and character born of deferred gratification; despite her abrasiveness with callers in distress she is almost certainly a good thing for civilization.
But her popularity raises an interesting question: where are the Christian oracles in popular culture? You are far more likely to find a horoscope in your local newspaper than Billy Graham’s little advice column, and Christian media personalities such as James Dobson remain a feature of the evangelical ghetto rather than taking centre stage in the public eye.
This absence of a Christian presence in determining morality and life choices should come as no surprise. The electronic media have done much to marginalize religion as a factor in public discourse, but the fact that the status of the Christian clergy, once the socially-respected arbiters and mediators of divine counsel, is dismally low is nobody’s fault but the faithful’s.
North American Christianity is still suffering from two burdens: (1) the revelations of financial impropriety and sexual sin committed by its leadership over the past decade and (2) the incorrect use of media to get its message to mass audiences. Until we can solve these problems the nation will continue to have to rely on other oracles.
Gerry Bowler is a Winnipeg writer and historian. He can be reached at kjensen@cc.umanitoba.ca.
